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#1
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Flying with Parachutes
On Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 10:29:47 PM UTC-5, 2G wrote:
Unless you have an emergency door ejection on your Cessna (I have never seen one with this), you won't be able to get out to use your parachute. Tom Why not? I have never had a problem opening a door on a Cessna in flight. In fact, on most old Cessnas, the doors pop open every time they are bumped by a shoulder. Does anyone remember the Cirrus SR-22 accident of a few years ago where the Cirrus was in a mid-air? The airframe parachute was deployed but the plane was on fire. The two occupants ended up jumping (without chutes, unfortunately) to avoid burning. I'll wear my chute, thank you. |
#2
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Flying with Parachutes
I've jumped out of a Cessna-182 with a sport rig which is much larger
than an emergency parachute.Â* Of course it had a jump door and no seats, which made it much easier. Recently, I ferried a C-182 which had not been flown for a dozen years and I wore a parachute.Â* It was tight, but by opening the door, and sliding the seat aft, I was able to rotate my body out the door.Â* Now, should part of the harness catch on the door latch, the outcome would not be as nice... On 8/11/2018 9:29 PM, 2G wrote: Unless you have an emergency door ejection on your Cessna (I have never seen one with this), you won't be able to get out to use your parachute. Tom -- Dan, 5J |
#3
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Flying with Parachutes
On Saturday, August 11, 2018 at 5:45:15 PM UTC-6, Al McNamara wrote:
I'm amazed at some of the comments on this issue. In 20+ years of gliding, I can remember only one flight without a parachute - at Seminole Lakes in Florida. It was in a Grob Acro and was possibly the most uncomfortable flight I've ever had, as the Acro seat (like most gliders built in Europe) is designed to be sat in with a parachute. Aside from comfort (yes of course you could use a parachute shaped cushion) I personally know 3 pilots whose lives have been saved by parachutes in my time gliding, and know of many more occasions where this has been the case (including the lightning strike at Dunstable previously mentioned by Mark Ware). The US appears to have a culture of not wearing parachutes which I find really surprising. In my view, wearing a parachute during flying training should be mandatory. This would build a culture where it was the norm, and every single seat pilot would see a parachute as being an essential bit of equipment. Al I think one of the reasons so many student pilots do not wear a parachute in the United States is because most of the training is done in a 2–33. These are not particularly amenable to wearing a parachute, especially for the instructor in the rear seat. And they would be very difficult to get out of quickly in an emergency situation. Otherwise, I would agree with your recommendation. |
#4
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Flying with Parachutes
My club has enough parachutes for every glider we have and it's pilot's choice as to whether to wear them. The vast majority do. Here in Canada the type certificates for German gliders are almost verbatim translations of the LBA/EASA documents and I've noticed that they all seem to have under "required equipment" a back type parachute or a cushion of dimensions approximately the same as a backpack chute (the FAA TCDS for the same gliders seems to omit this) so you've got a choice of a cushion or a chute. Odds of needing a chute are very low but if I ever found myself needing one and chose a cushion instead I would feel a bit foolish. I also think that in case of a crash or a forced landing in remote country the parachute canopy might come in useful on the ground.
The Slingsby Kestrel 19 TCDS here in Canada is odd - it simply flat out requires a parachute to be onboard during flight! |
#5
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Flying with Parachutes
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#6
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Flying with Parachutes
I'm surprised to hear people saying they don't use parachutes. I've only been flying gliders for about 4 years, but I don't think I've ever seen a person get in a glider without one. To me, it's a no brainer, like wearing a seatbelt in a car.
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#7
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Flying with Parachutes
On Friday, August 10, 2018 at 8:22:54 PM UTC-4, John Huthmaker wrote:
I'm just starting out with soaring. Simple question for you guys. How many of you fly with an emergency parachute? It looks like they cost around $2000 online. Pretty steep price; although the cost is insignificant if it saves your life. Is this something I should be looking to purchase? When I started taking lessons, I asked about parachutes and the general consensus was that doing lessons involved a lot of getting in and out of the glider, and parachutes made it time consuming adjusting belts, sizing chutes, hard on the instructor, etc. it was just too much hassle. Considering most power pilots do no wear chutes, I told myself I'd be ok. Once I soloed, I purchased my own parachute and handheld radio before I finally purchased my own glider. I had several incidents leading up to this decision: 1) We had a pilot with a brand new PIK having a grand old time doing wingovers in his new glider. He came fairly close to me on one of them, pulling up right in front of us coming the opposite direction causing us to make a sudden turn to avoid him. Close enough that it startled both myself AND the instructor. When you hear the instructor say OH **** you know it's close. 2) I had another pilot cut me off entering downwind... he must have been above and slightly behind me because neither of us saw each other until he sped up and descended right in front of me... about 75' ahead. I now make a few S turns before getting on the 45 to enter downwind. 3) I was on tow, just flying straight ahead and level at about 1500' when a Cesna flew right past us in the opposite direction, same altitude, about 40' off my wing tip. THAT one really startled me.. neither of us had radios so there was no warning. 4) Scratching in a weak thermal way downwind during my last leg of a silver badge attempt, desperately trying to get upwind to a better cloud... saw a twin prop heading very fast right at me. Decided I'd better bail from my thermal just in case he was flying IFR. He was, he flew right through where I was circling... and I was forced to land out. Not scary since I saw it coming, and the outlanding was fun for a new pilot in a 1-26. But, I then made up my mind that I was always have a radio and a parachute even if I did not own a glider. |
#8
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Flying with Parachutes
Well its pretty obvious that the responses here can be a bit of a mixed bag.. Some have very coherent well thought through responses that support their position. Others seem much less so.
I appreciate everyone chiming in here. For those who choose not to fly with one, I fully respect your decision. I get that they may be uncomfortable.. But I've made up my mind that I do personally want to start using one. I have to imagine that I start using one right from the beginning, it'll feel weird without one. I spoke to my instructor yesterday, and he uses one. My soaring club shares an airport with a skydiving company. So he introduced me to a rigger, and even recommended jumping with one. I tend to think he likes using one, but has had few students who had the desire. I have a beautiful wife at home, and allot of good years left on this earth.. I'd never let a little danger take me away from an exciting sport. But if there is a way to make something safer, I'm all for it. |
#9
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Flying with Parachutes
On Sunday, August 12, 2018 at 9:28:48 AM UTC-7, John Huthmaker wrote:
Well its pretty obvious that the responses here can be a bit of a mixed bag. Some have very coherent well thought through responses that support their position. Others seem much less so. I appreciate everyone chiming in here. For those who choose not to fly with one, I fully respect your decision. I get that they may be uncomfortable. But I've made up my mind that I do personally want to start using one. I have to imagine that I start using one right from the beginning, it'll feel weird without one. I spoke to my instructor yesterday, and he uses one. My soaring club shares an airport with a skydiving company. So he introduced me to a rigger, and even recommended jumping with one. I tend to think he likes using one, but has had few students who had the desire. I have a beautiful wife at home, and allot of good years left on this earth. I'd never let a little danger take me away from an exciting sport. But if there is a way to make something safer, I'm all for it. Well John, in twenty years you have the opportunity to re-access your wife and your life to decide if you want purchase another chute when the useful life of this chute has expired. We had this debate a few months ago. I was surprised at the number of pilots that took a look around at the state of affairs in their lives and decided to stay with the chute that has been sweated on for 20 years and deemed expired by the manufacturer and Parachute Riggers Association. Glad you know the value of your life. |
#10
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Flying with Parachutes
At 16:28 12 August 2018, John Huthmaker wrote:
Well its pretty obvious that the responses here can be a bit of a mixed bag= .. Some have very coherent well thought through responses that support thei= r position. Others seem much less so. I appreciate everyone chiming in here. For those who choose not to fly wit= h one, I fully respect your decision. I get that they may be uncomfortable= .. But I've made up my mind that I do personally want to start using one. = I have to imagine that I start using one right from the beginning, it'll fe= el weird without one. I spoke to my instructor yesterday, and he uses one. My soaring club share= s an airport with a skydiving company. So he introduced me to a rigger, an= d even recommended jumping with one. I tend to think he likes using one, b= ut has had few students who had the desire. I have a beautiful wife at home, and allot of good years left on this earth= .. I'd never let a little danger take me away from an exciting sport. But = if there is a way to make something safer, I'm all for it. |
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